In addition, the committee of the Bayer 04 Sportförderung gGmbH have decided to present runners-up SC Leverkusen 2017 e.V. and Tabalingo Sports & Kultur – integrativ e.V. (both FVM) with a prize of €2,000 each for their youth work.The presentation will be made at the home game against RB Leipzig.
The award and related prize money to the total of €16,000 are aimed at particularly committed clubs from the Middle Rhine (FVM) and Lower Rhine (FVN) Football Associations. "It's a great pleasure every year to see the outstanding voluntary work that the clubs do for the benefit of society," declared Michael Schade, CEO of Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH and Bayer 04 Sportförderung gGmbH. "The large number of really outstanding applications has made it particularly difficult for the committee to decide this year's winners."
In recognition of their efforts, delegations from all 55 clubs that applied for the Volunteers Award this season have been invited to the Bundesliga home match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday 28th of January at the BayArena (1530 CET).
BSV Viktoria Bielstein 1920 e.V. (FVM) have made it their business to promote local integration work through sport. "Our club wants to help people looking to set up a new home in Wiehl," said Christof Fries, chair of BSV Viktoria Bielstein, in describing the voluntary commitment at the club. To make sure that campaign succeeded, the club brought in an integration officer around two years ago that also serves as a contact point for local refugee support groups. The voluntary commitment is not just limited to training and matches for the football club. Communal activities away from the sports ground are also part of the portfolio of the amateur club from Wiehl. This has already resulted in over 40 families with a refugee background being integrated into club life.
SV Fortuna Millingen 1920 e.V. (FVN) are also involved in working on integration. The proximity of the pitch of the amateur club from Rees to a reception point for asylum seekers has proved to be big part of developing a true culture of hospitality. Working together with local partners, valuable integration work has been achieved on and off the football pitch. In addition, SV Fortuna Millingen have already worked with a local kindergarten as well as local primary schools for several years. This enables the club to provide sporting opportunities for the local education establishments and also organise them and carry them out. The committee were primarily impressed by the sustainable effect of the commitment.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Sportförderung gGmbH was founded in 2007 with the aim of promoting volunteering in football. With the help of the annual Volunteers Award, 34 clubs from the Middle Rhine (FVM) and Lower Rhine (FVN) Football Associations have received over €175,000 in financial support.
The Bayer 04 players were put through their paces at the Werkstatt – the club’s rehabilitation and training centre – on Sunday as they completed the first and main part of this year’s performance diagnostics. New signings Mark Flekken, Ibrahim Maza and Axel Tape, as well as players returning from their holidays, all did the customary medical and athletic tests.
Show moreThe team departs for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday for the Bayer 04 Brazil Tour 2025 from July 14-24. The preseason journey marks a change from recent training camps in the Austrian Alps and Black Forest and we caught up with CEO Fernando Carro to ask him about this summer's visit to Brazil.
Show moreMalik Tillman and the USA could not quite achieve the hoped-for big win in their own country. Last Monday’s final in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Houston ended up in a 2-1 defeat for the hosts against Mexico. But the Bayer 04 new signing can be very happy with the course of the tournament and his own performances. Tillman was in the starting line-up for all six games. That concluded an impressive season for him after winning the Eredivisie title in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven. Bayer04.de profiles the 23-year-old new signing.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen have signed the USA international Malik Tillman. The 23-year-old attacking midfielder joins the Werkself from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. Tillman, with German roots and born in Nuremberg, has a contract at Leverkusen to 30 June 2030. He scored 16 goals and provided five assists in 34 games for PSV last season. Three of those goals and two assists were in six matches in the UEFA Champions League.
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